CD3: Grijalva Leads Fundraising, Spending, Cash

Story by AZPM Staff

last updated July 19, 2012

Congressman Raúl Grijalva has raised more money in the past three months than all the other candidates running in Congressional District 3 combined.

And even though Grijalva is spending his money, he also has more than three times as much cash ready to spend in the coming months than the other candidates combined.

In the Aug. 28 primary, Grijalva faces fellow Democrats Amanda Aguirre, a former state lawmaker, and Manny Arreguin, a Tucson-area doctor. Grijalva is running for his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, and business owner Jaime Vasquez will compete for their party nomination. The winners of each party will face each other in November general election.

Grijalva raised $146,919 in the second quarter of 2012, which includes April, May and June. He spent $128,064 and has about $162,638 on hand.

Aguirre raised the next highest amount, with $69,345. She spent $86,489, and has approximately $14,500 left to spend.

Mercer was next, with about $23,000 raised, $15,387 spent and $17,653 on hand.

Arreguin raised $16,125, spent about $34,800 and has $10,111 on hand left to spend. He has the most debt of any of the candidates, with $33,382. He loaned his campaign $20,000.

Vasquez has not filed a campaign finance report this year, and is not required to do so unless he raises or spends more than $500 on his campaign.

All of the candidates report receiving $1,500 or less from political action committees, except for Grijalva who brought in $49,671 from committees. All of the committees that gave him money are based outside of Arizona.

But Grijalva’s donations from individuals came mostly from Arizona residents. Of the 152 donations from individuals, 117 of them came from Arizonans, for a total of $35,145. Mercer got $2,850 from people outside of Arizona, Aguirre got a little more than $4,200 from out of state, and Arreguin got 3,570 from non-Arizonans.

While Grijalva is spending more money than the other candidates, Aguirre spent a higher percentage of her expenses out of state. About 18 percent of Grijalva’s expenses went to people or companies based in other states, while nearly 37 percent of Aguirre’s expenditures were to non-Arizona companies or consultants.

Most of the people who donated to Grijalva gave $250 or less, and donated a total of $17,770. He raised $16,306 from 27 donations in the amount between $250 to $1,000, and $27,500 from 13 donations of $1,000 or more.

Of Mercer’s donations, the largest number came in increments of less than $250. From 38 donations she received $4,262. She got 13 donations in the range of $251 to $1,000, for a total of $6,500 from that group. And 1 person gave her the maximum amount for a primary race, $2,500.

Arreguin had 11 donations of $250 or less, for a total of $1,901 from that group. Seventeen donations in the range of $251 to $1,000 earned him a total of $10,748 in medium-sized donations. He had one large donation of $1,250.

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